Parker's family
by snobunniex3
Summary: Parker lost her first family, found her second, and stole her third. one-shot about Parker


AN: Well, I've written for Nate, Eliot, and Sophie lately, here's one for Parker. Let me know what you think, all comments, suggestions, and review are welcome!

Disclaimer: I don't own leverage

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Parker lost her first family before she knew who they were. Her first memories are from an orphanage and, appropriately, of stealing.

It was midnight and she was hungry but even a 4 year old Parker knew she wasn't supposed to be out of bed. So she laid in bed and stared at the ceiling. And waited. And listened. Parker knew she'd be in trouble if she got caught so she'd have to make sure everyone was sleeping first. When she was sure nobody was moving around, she crept quietly from her bed, peeked out the door that was cracked to let in light, and slipped soundlessly into the hall. She made it to the kitchen, onto the counter, and had her hand in the cookie jar before someone caught her.

Luckily it was her roommate, Kimmy.

"Can I have some?" Kimmy whispered.

"Keep watch" Parker whispered even more quietly and grabbed a few more before hopping off the counter.

They snuck back into their room and ate their bounty without a word. After two weeks, it was a routine. After a month the routine ended, Kimmy got adopted and Parker found she wasn't really all that hungry at night anymore.

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Parker found her second family through stealing as well. There was no way for her to know that the old man with a cane wasn't simple mark. Or that he was one of the greatest thieves out there.

Parker was hungry but even at 12 knew it would be easier to pick a pocket than steal food from a store. So she sat in the park, watching for a good mark. She ignored the teenagers because they could catch her and she ignored the parents because well she didn't really want to think about why she ignored them. Then she saw the old man dressed nicely using a fancy cane. He had money, surely he wouldn't miss whatever he had in his wallet.

Parker had been following the man for half an hour now and decided she needed to get his wallet now before he went somewhere she couldn't follow. She watched him walk down the street for another moment before she cut down an alley and started running to get ahead of him. It only took her a minute to get to the next opening on the street that the old man was on and she had time to catch her breath.

'_Old people sure are slow.'_ She thought before stepping out and walking towards the man with the cane.

She had lifted dozens, maybe hundreds, of wallets since she had started living on the streets and she never got caught. Which was why it was so surprising when the old man grabbed her wrist and took his wallet back. She stared at the hand holding her wrist before looking up at the old man. She was even more surprised he was smiling.

Smiling or not, the old man had caught her and she wasn't going back to juvie. She twisted his wrist, kicked him in the shin, and ran. She ran as fast as she could using back alleys and side streets. She ran until she was out of breath. She ran until she couldn't run anymore. She ran right into the old man.

"How. How did you catch me? You're old and slow." She stared at him, genuinely confused, more so when he chuckled.

"You're a natural when it comes to being a thief, kiddo, but you should be careful about underestimating people. How would you like an ice cream?"

As if that even needed an answer.

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Parker stole her third and last family. She snuck in, she scaled the walls around their hearts, she fiddled and she poked until she stole all their hearts. And she didn't even plan it. She didn't do recon or any prep work. She didn't even know she had done it. It was instinct to steal what she wanted and she wanted a family.

She stole Hardison's heart first and not quite in the same way she stole everyone else's. She was a bit more careful with his, maybe because he was careful with hers. Parker didn't know much about feelings and emotions and she tried to deny it when Sophie told her she was jealous. Eventually, even Parker could see that she had feeling for the hacker. So she finally told him how she felt. They went slow, both being cautious because this kind of love was new to both of them. They travelled together and they shared their hobbies and work. They shared their fears and their dreams. She stole his heart quickly because that's how she works, quick and quiet. Hardison was a bit more careful and lot more obvious when he stole her heart. He was slow and patient but Parker wasn't paying enough attention and the hacker found a backdoor and slipped right in.

Sophie had seen it happening, had seen the blonde thief opening up, and decided she quite liked the idea of having her as friend. So maybe Parker didn't steal Sophie's heart, it wasn't really stealing if you had permission. While Sophie knew she and Parker would be close, she never knew she'd come to be her family, not that she minded. And because it was her job to see these things, she saw how Parker worked her way through everyone's defenses and walls and trip wires and sensors and found their hearts. Sophie found it quite impressive how skillfully Parker did it, how she stole herself a family. She really was the best thief in the world.

Sophie wasn't the only one who saw it happening. Eliot is probably the most observant member of the team and he had the most protection around his heart. He saw Parker tiptoe around his minefield and scale the walls but he wasn't as happy about it as Sophie. No, he didn't want anyone to get that close to him again. He fought because he knew eventually everyone left or died or he hurt them and he wasn't going to let that happen. But Parker is the best thief in the world and it doesn't matter how much security you have, eventually she gets what she wants. Eliot knew that, of all the members on the team, Parker was the only one who could sneak up on him but it still surprised him when he realized he had just offered to kill a man for making Parker cry. After the job was done and they gloated, Eliot looked at Parker and started to wonder how she had snuck up on him this time. He had been careful, he growled and pushed away, but somehow she had snuck past his defenses and stole his heart. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, having a sister like Parker. Then he realized they had all done it. Every damn member of the team had wormed their way in. He shook his head and hit the door of the truck to get the teams attention, it was time to go home.

It took Nate the longest to realize that it happened. Maybe it was the alcohol. Maybe it was just denial. He had a family once and he wasn't looking for another one. Parker was insane, that was the first thing he'd told Dubenich when he found out she'd been recruited for that first job. He wasn't wrong. Parker was crazy. She stole without thinking, she was reckless, she didn't understand how normal people acted, and she never did what you expected. She loved Christmas, took everything literally, ate all the cereal, and somehow appeared out of nowhere. That's how she stole his heart. He didn't see her sneaking up on him, he didn't notice all the seemingly irrelevant moves she made across his emotional chess board. She just appeared on the other side. Not until he met Archie did he realize she had him in checkmate. As far as he was concerned, Parker was theirs. Archie might have been her family once, but she had found better one now and this family wasn't going to let her go. They would get her out of Wakefield and then maybe later he and bottle of Irish whiskey would figure out how exactly she had done it. No, she was the greatest thief he had ever chased (chased, never caught) stealing is what she did best; he would probably never know how'd she'd done it. Then he remembered, all four of them were thieves, the best in their respective fields. He never really stood a chance.

When Parker was little she wanted a family. Then she just wanted money. Now Parker didn't want much of anything. Well, maybe a little more money.

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Please review! Seriously, I'm begging here!


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